Blades of Friendship
by AshleyBB
Summary: Saito is an ordinary kid who is about to finish high school. The last day of school a pokemon steals their food and he engage a desperate struggle to recover it. From that moment they begin a strange friendship. What Saito not know is that this pokemon is chased by a group of people who will do anything to get it back.


Chapter 1 – The Claws of Destiny

It was a quiet morning in Goldenrod City. Saito Minakami, a seventeen year old kid, 1.7 meters tall (5'6") with grey hair, was sleeping on his bed, one of his legs hanging on the side as usual, one of his hands around the back of his neck and the other on his crotch. A small smile on his face seemed to suggest he was dreaming something pleasant, but it quickly disappeared as soon as his Spearow alarm clock started ringing. He quietly sat on his bed, rubbed his eyes with one hand and after a small yawn, he turned his alarm clock off. Three seconds later, he was lying back in bed as if nothing happened.

Some minutes afterwards, a 24 year old girl, with long blonde hair and a big bosom, swung the bedroom door open. It was Saito's sister, Reiko.

"How long are you gonna keep on sleeping?!" She yelled to Saito. Not disturbed in the slightest, he turned his back against her and kept snoring.

"So you won't get up, you brat?" She said, now with a vein pulsing on her forehead.

Her leg rose to her head level and with a swift movement she slammed it against his stomach forcing Saito to double over because of the pain. His sister's kicks were more painful than those of the bullies he was used to and there was a simple explanation for it: Reiko was black belt in all forms of martial arts known to men and Pokemon alike, in High School she was president of all fight clubs in her school and in the neighborhood it was rumored she was Hitmon Norris's secret student, but no one could confirm that.

"Every day's the same with you lil' bro." She said with a lecturing tone. "Come down, breakfast's ready." She said with a sigh as she exited the room.

Saito would have loved to make a verbal response, but the lack of air and the fact that he was still awakening from a nice dream made it impossible for him to speak. He took his pocket knife from his night stand and, without thinking it twice, opened it and threw it against his sister. In a split-second, Reiko turned around and caught the projectile in midair with two fingers just a few centimeters from meeting its target.

"Sa-i-to" she whispered, her teeth clenched, "How dare you throw a knife to your beautiful sister?" a small grin forming on her face.

"You? Beautiful? What's beautiful in a 24-year-old manly girl who kicks the crap out of any boy that gets close to her?! All the boys are afraid of you, you know?"

"'Manly', huh…" Reiko's eyes turned into two raging flames. She got slowly near him and punched him mercilessly.

"W-wait, I was just kidding!" Saito's pleas fell to deaf ears and Reiko didn't stop until he was almost unconscious.

"Get cleaned and come down, your tea is getting cold." Satisfied, she wiped off his brother's blood from her fists and left.

Some bandages later, Saito got dressed, put on his school uniform - long-sleeves shirt, black tie, green jacket, denim trousers and because he did find shoes comfortable, he always replaced them with white sneakers and went downstairs to have breakfast.

As usual, his sister was lying on the couch with only her underwear on, watching the morning news. Saito was running late, so he put a slice of toast in his mouth and left for school not without hearing the local newsman:

"An unknown male has been mugging people in the southern district of the city" said the middle-aged reporter.

"What is strange is that he has only been stealing groceries" his assistant added.

_Groceries… that reminds me…_ Saito thought.

"Hey Reiko, did you make my Bento?" He asked, still a bit angry because of the previous beat down.

"You're old enough to make it yourself. Anyway, it's on the kitchen table." She made a vague gesture with her hand, not taking her eyes off the TV.

Saito opened the door outside, the sunlight so bright it made him automatically cover his eyes with his arm.

"Don't leave this behind." Reiko warned him before throwing the pocket knife she parried from him.

The kid grabbed it and looked puzzled at his sister.

"Dad's going to feel bad if you don't take it with you, besides the southern district is close by, and I don't you to wander around without protection" She remarked with a serious tone.

"I don't need you to take care of me, I'm not a little kid anymore, you know? I'll graduate from High School today if you didn't notice" He arrogantly answered.

"That's cute, but what are you going to do after that? Study? Work? I'm not gonna maintain you for life."

"You think I don't know what I'll do? Of course I do!" He lied.

"Uh-uh, and what will that be?" Her face saying _I know you're lying._

"It's none of your business!" He snapped. "Stop pestering me, I'm going to be late!"

Saito said goodbye to a picture of his parents and left the house.

Saito's parents had passed away. His father was in the army, and died 10 years ago during a mission abroad. It was him who gave and taught how to use the pocket knife Saito carries with him all the time.

When she heard the news of her husband, Saito's mother got very depressed and as a result, got seriously ill. She died on an autumn afternoon, an afternoon the boy would never forget.

The pocket knife was one of the few mementos Saito had from his father, mostly because his job made him unable to stay at home most of the time. Despite that, his son respected him because he knew he was doing it for the sake of his family.

Even though it was hard growing up without them, Saito and his sister were able to handle the situation rather well because of their father's pension and the small dojo Reiko opened.

Saito's school was only a few blocks away but he always arrived late, either because of a fight or just laziness, and today it wasn't going to be an exception. That's why running as fast as he could through the crowded streets shoving whoever was on his way without stopping to apologize. The school's gate was closed so he was forced to jump over the wall, it was not the first time he did that, so it didn't take much effort.

The graduation ceremony was the same as every year: The students were handed their diplomas and according to their popularity they got applauded too much or too little. So when Saito was handed his diploma, he only got the mandatory applause.

After the ceremony, Saito was a little depressed. Even though he didn't have many friends, he was going to miss the routine of waking up every day to get scolded by the teachers, getting into fights with jerks from the rival school and having a lot of exams. He could barely believe he graduated with an average of C-.

After a couple of good-byes and farewells he went back home because he wasn't in the mood to pick up fights around town like he used to.

As he was crossing an alley that shortened the trip home, he heard a weird noise behind him. He instantly turned around but saw nothing.

He walked a few steps and stopped on his tracks, trying to hear footsteps, whispers or something that would give away his follower. Every step he made sounded twice and when he stopped the _extra_ set of steps stopped too.

He felt something was moving behind him and turned to see a small and somewhat blurry shape approach swiftly towards him. He couldn't make out what it was, but it was really fast. In an instant it cut Saito's backpack open and stole the Bento that was inside, he didn't have time to react because of the speed of the creature.

With the box in hand, the creature got some meters away on a garbage can where Saito could get a good look at it:

It was a strange cat-like creature that unlike other animals, it stood on two legs, had huge claws instead of hands and some small feathers on its head.

"Hey cat, give that back!" Saito yelled, but the feline creature ignored him as it focused on eating a rice ball.

"You shit-faced cat! Don't pretend you can't hear me!" This last yell managed to catch the pokémon's attention that now looked at him with killer eyes.

"Yes, I'm talking to you, give that back." He said, pointing the remains of his lunch.

"Why do these things always happen to me? A day in which I don't feel like picking up a fight this happens…"

The creature stood up and, propelling itself from the wall behind it, zoomed towards Saito like a bullet. When it was close to Saito, it extended its claw as it tried to slash him and the boy jumped aside trying to dodge it. He wasn't fast enough and got a nasty cut on his arm.

Once the cat-like creature landed, Saito saw some blood dripping from the claw. The feline licked it while staring at the boy, as if taunting him. It shook off the remaining blood from its claw, leaving a small red ribbon of the liquid on the floor.

Saito noticed with his hand on the wound that it wasn't a very deep cut and even though it hurt a lot, he took out his pocket knife.

"I'll teach you how to cut! Bring it on!" He taunted.

Immediately, the feline ran to him at crazy speeds. With a claw above its head, it jumped and slashed against Saito's chest, but the boy parried the attack with his knife. The creature tried again, but the result was the same.

"Is that all you've got? My turn!" Saito exclaimed, preparing his attack.

He sliced in different directions but the pokémon effortlessly blocked them. Seeing this, the boy increased the speed of his attacks; a metallic sound was made every time the blades made contact. Seconds later, he noticed his arms were getting tired and the current strategy wasn't working so he made a small leap backwards and ceased the attack.

Seeing this, the creature took the chance and stared at Saito in a way that was different from before. Without noticing, Saito lowered his arms.

_What the hell is going on?! I can't move! _He desperately thought. _What the hell did that thing do to me? Come on body, move! Move! _He yelled inside his head, but his body didn't answer his pleas. The Sneasel attacked the defenseless human causing a big wound on his chest.

Thanks to the pain from the wound, Saito was able to move again. He knew he had to end the fight quickly or else he wouldn't have any chances at winning. His vision was becoming blurry; he was losing too much blood.

Without thinking, he flexed his legs and changed the hold on his knife so that the blade was pointing to the floor. The cat dashed to finish him off and when it was close to him the boy stretched his legs and raising his knife in an ascendant arc he performed his technique:

"Great Upper Cut!" He yelled

The Sneasel tried to defend itself from the attack by holding its claws in a cross shape, but the force of the attack was so great it overwhelmed its defense and left a big cut on its small body.

"It's over." Said Saito, satisfied.

But to his surprise, the feline stood up with a pained face. Its wound was leaving droplets of blood on the floor.

"You're tough to beat" he added. "Let's decide the winner in the next move" Saito said knowing neither his body nor the pokemon's would be able to stand upright for too long.

They ran towards each other and with the remaining strength each had, they launched their final attack. Both the Sneasel's claws and Saito's knife stood millimeters from their opponents' neck. They stared at each other for a few seconds and lowered their weapons as they realized there was no point in continuing, they gave their best and that was enough.

"You fought well, cat." Saito said as he sat down.

"Snee" answered the feline.

"My name is Saito, nice to meet you." He offered his hand, to which the pokémon shook it with its claw.

"I see you're hungry. My home is not far from here. I can give you some food if you want." Saito offered "Besides, I can't leave you like this with those wounds. I've got tons of bandages at home thanks to the beatings my sister gives me everyday. You're lucky she didn't find you, who knows what would've happened?" He laughed.

The pokémon nodded albeit unenthusiastically. Free food. Who turns down free food?

That way, they both headed to Saito's home, but what the boy didn't know is that this incident would forge a different destiny for him and his new friend…

While the moon painted the urban landscape of Goldenrod City white, two men were camouflaged in the darkness of the night. They shared the same uniform.

Without warning, a melody started playing which startled one of the men. The other man searched his pocket and produced a small device, opened it and started talking.

"…"

"Roger. Agent Forty-Four here."

"…"

"Negative. We haven't found any signs of the target." He answered. "But the citizens have confirmed our suspicions: It is indeed in the city."

"…"

"Acknowledge. We will continue our search. Forty-Four out." He said and turned off the device.

To be continued…


End file.
